Kinna Clark knows more about planned giving than most. As the director of gift planning services for the University of North Carolina System, Clark spends most of her days talking to donors and colleagues about the importance of planned gifts.
"Being in development, you see first-hand the needs that our institutions have. So I thought, why haven't I given?" she said.
As a 2010 graduate of ECU's School of Business, Clark is still young and early in her career, not the stereotypical donor over 50 with a hefty bank account.
But giving back to your alma mater doesn't have to fit into that stereotype, Clark said. Her planned gift establishing the Kinna N. Clark College of Business Scholarship Endowment is an excellent example of how young alumni have the capacity to support ECU.
"I'm a big proponent of starting early. It can be as simple as a percentage of an insurance policy. Especially for young alums, they may not have amassed wealth soon after graduating, so it's a great way to begin. When you're younger, insurance policies are cheaper for you. You don't have to have a lot of cash on hand to do something, and you can continue to build on it."
As a high school student, Clark had aspirations of going to business school, and heard that ECU had an excellent program.
"My time at ECU was a great one. From when I was on campus to when I finished as a distance education student, I had great professors and experiences," she said.
That included working as a student aid worker in the psychology department, meeting her best friend and playing intramural flag football.
"I remember all the student activities on campus and relationship building. Even professors in my online classes I felt were available to students," Clark added.
After graduation, Clark attended law school at North Carolina Central University. There, she became interested in property law, wills and trusts, and got a job at NCCU Law as a major and planned gifts officer. Now, she focuses on gift planning for the system office, providing education sessions for donors and helping institutions grow their planned giving programs. Part of her job is telling colleagues and donors about the many different types of planned gifts, and that there is a market for planned giving for people under 50-people like herself.
"If I can do it, you can do it," she said. "It's so important for all alums to know the various ways we can pay it forward to support our institution that gave us a valuable opportunity. We can help ensure future opportunities for students to come!"
As Clark has shown, charitable giving doesn't have to be complex and you don't have to be a certain age to start thinking about it.
"I hope to do more in the future as well," she said. "This is just the start."
